Just when you thought you’d heard the last prediction that Bono was going to get his Nobel laurels for wanting really, really badly to help the world’s poorest people, a man who actually helped them is taking home the prize. And the best part of it is he’s making money in the process.

Ever heard of “microfinance”? Mohammed Yunus is founder of the Grameen Bank, an organization that gives out tiny loans to poor people in the developing world. Since these poor people rarely have titled property against which to mortgage their enterprises, the Grameen Bank relies on social forces within village communities to ensure the loans are paid back. And that’s the genius of his model. Yunus figured out how to leverage basic human characteristics in the absence of physical collateral — characteristics such as trust, entrepreneurial spirit and community.